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Fan:Chapter 15: A Trapped Foe
Josiah ran his hands over Shelly’s arms and legs, squeezing each briefly. She didn’t seem to be in much pain. “I told you I was fine,” she said. “Well, I couldn’t take any chances.” Josiah himself was alright except for a few scratches on his face and hands, when he had fallen off the log. His clothing was frayed in some places and his hair was a mess. But his legs seemed to work all right. Both of them could walk. That was the central thing. He still couldn’t believe they had survived the fall, and he guessed that the vines all over the chasm walls got entangled around the log, slowing its plummet. “My stomachs going ‘hmm,’” Shelly said. “I’m hungry, Josiah.” “I know,” Josiah said, rubbing his abdomen. “We haven’t eaten for hours.” He took off is pack and looked inside. He found some candy bars and some sandwiches. It was amazing: aside from his medic case contents spilled about, the rest of the supplies were undamaged. Shelly checked her pack. She found some of her morpheme container in her medic pack and some water bottles. She took out some soggy socks and meat sticks. She had her camera and a few of her personnel household items from home. Band-aids pack gauze, flashlight, a scope, and a comb. She also had a packed lunch and some snacks. They ate what they could, but rationed leftovers for later. The two time-travelers continued to hike through the canyon all afternoon. The canyon walls seemed to grow deeper around them. Shelly clung to Josiah’s arm as they walked. Josiah didn’t mind it. It made him feel good that she was close to him. But he couldn’t help but noticed that she was trembling a bit. He could see she was clearly frightened. Josiah couldn’t blame her. The fall into the chasm had them both shaken’ up pretty badly. An hour past and still they couldn’t find a break in the canyon. Josiah tried several times to climb out, but the walls were to steep and the rocks were wet and slippery, causing him to slide down back to the ground. Shelly tried, but that didn’t work ether. As they continued to walk, Josiah caught the whiff of something dead up ahead. He heard the steady droning of flies, buzzing coming from further on. Ten yards ahead, they passed a partly eaten carcass of an animal, which was laying on its side. The carcass was old and crawling with white maggots and flies. In the stillness of the canyon, the sharp smell was sickening. They rounded a rocky corner and stopped dead in their tracks. Not more then twenty feet away, was a ceratosaur. It was hunched over a kill and feeding hungrily, its snout covered in blood. The scales were pale gray with small black spikes running down its bulky body. It had a horn on its nose that was thin and red and a broad, massive tail. The dinosaur was twenty-four feet long, and over six point two feet tall. The carnivore made no indication that it had detected them. It just continued to feed. Josiah and Shelly backed away until their backs touched the rocky walls, making them both struggle for breath. They were out of the view of the dinosaur, but there was a new problem. How were they going to get past it? Josiah turned to Shelly and whispered, “I don’t think it saw us, but we have to be ready to act, Shell,” he swiveled his head around to look if the ceratosaur was still eating. Shelly clutched his arm. “Would it help if we snuck by it, Josiah?” Josiah shook his head no. “There is no wind down here and that thing will pick up our scent faster then you can say ‘extinction’.” Shelly let go of Josiah and took out her stun pistol. Josiah did the same and turned to Shelly. “We’ll find a way around it. If it attacks, we’ll have to shoot. Stay behind me and be ready.” She nodded her head to let him know she heard him. Slowly, they made there way across the clearing to a nearby boulder. Josiah stood up slowly, peering over the boulder to see if the ceratosaur was still feeding. The carnivore ate on, undisturbed by the flies around its face. On the other side was a clear narrow path into the chasm. They circled around the boulder and hurriedly, but quietly, made their way to the path. As they ran, Shelly tripped on a lose stone and fell to the ground with a yelp. The ceratosaur stood up and swiveled its head in their direction. It growled, showing rows of large razor-sharp teeth. Josiah grabbed Shelly’s arm and they bolted into the narrow gap. Josiah chanced a look back and saw the ceratosaur charging after them, its jaws open. Shelly screamed and Josiah pulled her into the path, squeezing themselves all the way through the narrow walls. The ceratosaur snapped its jaws at empty air, and bellowed. Josiah and Shelly were on the other side, breathing hard. The ceratosaur growled and tried to wedge itself through the narrow part of the wall, but found it could not fit. Giving up, it withdrew its snout, gave a final roar, then turned back to finish its kill. Josiah and Shelly stood where they were, panting from their sudden attack. “Whew! That was close,” Shelly breathed. “Blake and Clover check in,” “And they do check out.” Josiah finished, laughing quietly. They both turned and continued to walk deeper into the chasm, but kept an eye out for any more danger that might be creeping around the canyon’s corners. Meanwhile, Ken, Momma, Buck, and the dino kids were up on the chasm ridge, looking for a break and a path into the gorge. Buck swung on the vines in the trees while Momma kept up the pace with her kids small strides. All of sudden, the grounded started shuddering. Birds flew from the trees and compys scattered for safety. Momma roared in panic and the baby dinos whimpered with fear, while trying keep standing on unsteady feet. Ken held on to Momma’s neck, keeping his legs clenched against her scales. Buck swung over to him and shouted, “ITS AN earthquake, ken!” he swung over to Momma’s head and perched on her snout. The ground continued to quake and shake. The trees crumbled and fell with earth shattering crashes. Boulders and rocks fell and caused major rock slides down into the chasm. Dinosaurs in the distance bellowed and squawked in terror and stampeded for their lives. Momma and the kids took cover under a rock outcropping while Buck hopped off Momma’s snout and stayed in the trees. The dinosaurs continued to stampede by the ledge, and Ken saw an iguanodon rush by, a big tear in its flank. The earthquake continued for another minute, tearing the Jurassic jungle to shreds. Ken curled up in a tight ball amongst the dino kids, coughed in the raising dust, closed his eyes, and waited for it to end. Deep in the chasm, Josiah and Shelly took cover under a rock outcrop. The earthquake had taken them completely by surprise. They huddled together for safety, closing their eyes and waiting for the ground to stop shaking. As rocks fell all over the place, Shelly clung to Josiah and shouted, “Make it stop! Please make it stop!” and then they were enveloped in gray dust, and Josiah coughed loudly, closed his eyes shut again, and waited. Buck awoke, feeling the tree that he was in shudder to a stop. Down below, Momma and her kids were safe, including Ken. The earthquake had stopped just as soon as it had happened. Buck knew these quakes to well. They had happened more than a few times in the past and Buck had seen what had happened when quakes erupted. Many dinosaurs ran for their lives to lava falls for safety while others stampeded out of fear. But not Buck. He never lost his head over a quake or his sanity as well. Or what was left of it. He scanned the area with his good eye and then climbed down the tree. Momma and her kids were alright and so was Ken. He got up and shook himself off. The baby dinos were covered in a layer of gray dust. All around them, the jungle was a disaster. Trees and plants were ripped up from their roots, and there were zigzagging cracks in the ground. Ken rushed over to the edge of the chasm and looked down. He could see nothing in the dusty cloud, but he knew there must have been a landslide of rocks. “Buck, do you think they made it?” Ken said, turning to the weasel with apprehension. Buck closed his eye. “I don’t know, little mate,” he said solemnly. “Earthquakes cause a lot of avalanches, and sometimes nothing survives.” Getting up, Ken walked back to Momma and climbed back on her neck. “Buck, I know they’re not dead. We’re going to find them. Are you still with me?” He turned to Buck and waited for his reply. The one-eyed weasel looked up at Ken and nodded, Too full of feeling for words. He hopped onto Momma’s back, sat in front of Ken, and patted Momma’s neck for them to leave. Josiah woke as the contents of Shelly’s water bottle splashed him in the face. He sputtered and shook his head to wipe the water from his eyes. He looked up and saw Shelly standing in front of him. “Thanks for the wake-up call,” he said. “But I sure don’t want to go through that again.” Shelly bent down and looked Josiah over. “Your hairs a mess, Clover,” she said. “But I think you’re alright.” He got up and dusted himself off. Taking out his pick, Josiah started picking at his hair and combing it so it looked as good as new. “Alright nothing,” He replied and finished combing and picking. “That earthquake almost got us that time, Shelly.” Shelly shifted uneasily. “Do you think Kens alright, Josiah?” “I’m sure he’s fine, Shelly.” And then, from somewhere up ahead in the chasm, they heard a roar. Like a bellow of pain from an animal. A big animal. Josiah and Shelly both froze in their tracks. Josiah knew who that roar of pain belonged to. “Shelly, something tells me that wasn’t my stomach that roared.” “What was it?” Shelly asked. Gulping, Josiah said, “We’ll find out soon enough, Shell.” Shelly continued to shiver as the two moved cautiously up the chasm. Josiah rounded the corner and spotted the source of the bellowing pain. He stopped dead in his track, his mouth open. There, laying under a heap of rocks and dead branches was Buck’s worst enemy. The one who had attacked him and Shelly on the log bridge. It was Rudy. Category:Fan